56 injured in Lotte Chemical plant fire

At least 56 people in the southern city of Seosan were injured Wednesday following an explosion at Lotte Chemical Corp.'s plant. Four company employees and residents were among those injured, Lotte said, adding that two of them have been hospitalized with serious burns. No deaths have been reported. "We are truly sorry for causing big concern among the public," Lotte Chemical CEO Lim Byung-yun said in a news conference. He said the company is doing its best to clean up the scene an

Social AffairsMarch 4, 2020

Hanjin KAL recommends heir apparent as director ahead of vote showdown

Hanjin KAL Corp., the holding company of logistics-centered Hanjin Group, recommended the group's heir apparent as a member of its boardroom ahead of a vote showdown this month amid a family feud over the throne of the group. Hanjin KAL Corp., which owns shares in Korean Air Lines Co., said its board members have suggested Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae and Korean Air Chief Financial Officer Ha Eun-yong as executive directors at the holding firm, the company said in a statement. "The

MobilityMarch 4, 2020

[Graphic News] Samsung’s Q4 smartphone share rises in Europe: data

　Samsung Electronics’ share in European smartphone market advanced slightly in the fourth quarter last year, benefiting from rival Huawei Technologies’ struggle with a US trade ban, data showed. 　The South Korean tech giant had a 27 percent market share, up 2 percentage points from a year earlier, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. 　The world’s largest smartphone maker apparently enlarged its presence after Huawei was barred from installing Google ser

BusinessMarch 4, 2020

Kakao chairman donates stocks worth W2b to help fight coronavirus

Kakao founder and Chairman Kim Beom-su has pledged to donate his stocks worth 2 billion won to help combat the nationwide spread of COVID-19, the firm said Wednesday. The company will also separately match the amount. Kim has decided to give 1,100 stocks, based on the day’s closing price, amounting to around 1.97 billion won. Details of where and how the donations will be delivered are yet to be announced. South Korea’s leading online company has been encouraging relief activit

IndustryMarch 4, 2020

[Herald Interview] Doctors face test of endurance in Daegu

Doctors fighting the new coronavirus epidemic in Daegu, South Korea’s worst-affected city, face an uphill battle as shortages of supplies and beds add to the difficulties posed by a grueling schedule. The official tally as of Tuesday midnight shows that 4,006 of Korea’s 5,328 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus are in Daegu and 774 in nearby North Gyeongsang Province. Over 90 percent of the 33 deaths took place in the southeastern city. “I would be lying if I said I wasn&

Social AffairsMarch 4, 2020

Ex-President Park calls for unity in conservative bloc

Ousted former President Park Geun-hye has called for unity within the conservative bloc, saying that conservatives’ patriotism can save the country from an “unprecedented crisis,” in a letter revealed by her lawyer Yoo Young-ha. “The country is in deep difficulties. There can be differences, and gaps that are difficult to fill in, but I urge all those who took up the Taegeukgi to come together around the behemoth opposition for a better Korea,” the imprisoned Par

PoliticsMarch 4, 2020

[News Focus] Shincheonji head’s political fashion provokes controversy

Founder and leader of a messianic Christian church Shincheonji Lee Man-hee’s purported presidential watch is fueling suspicions about his ties with the conservative political faction. In a press conference Monday, the leader of a cult now linked to over 2,400 virus cases was spotted with a Cheong Wa Dae souvenir watch bearing the name of former President Park Geun-hye. Lee’s watch had liberal figures hypothesizing about a possible shady connection between the church and

Social AffairsMarch 4, 2020

Samsung’s chip division creates own AI center

Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor division has launched its own artificial intelligence research center and is scouting global talent, according to industry sources Wednesday. The new unit under the Device Solutions division has been named Data & Information Technology Center, and is headed by Shim Eun-soo, senior vice president who led AI software research at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. The purpose of the new research body is related to applying AI technologies to

TechnologyMarch 4, 2020

[Anjani Trivedi] We need to prepare for pandemics. They’ll keep coming

When it comes to infectious disease outbreaks, we just haven’t learned. It’s not as if we weren’t warned. Last year, a report by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, a body put together by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group, said that there was “a very real threat of a rapidly moving, highly lethal pandemic of a respiratory pathogen killing 50 to 80 million people and wiping out nearly 5 percent of the world’s economy.” A pandemic on

ViewpointsMarch 4, 2020

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Italy shows how to tackle coronavirus impact

The Italian government has announced a stimulus package of 3.6 billion euros ($4 billion) to help the economy cope with the Coronavirus outbreak. The response appears timely and proportionate. Rome can always add to the stimulus later -- provided the financial markets allow it. Roberto Gualtieri, minister of finance, said in an interview Sunday that he was looking at a three-step plan to support companies and workers. Italy is the European country most affected country by the COVID-19 epidemic,

ViewpointsMarch 4, 2020

Samsung SDS, Credorax ink blockchain-based financial services partnership

Samsung SDS has signed a memorandum of understanding with Credorax, an Israel-based fintech and smart payments provider to nations in the European Union and European Economic Area, according to the company on Wednesday. The two companies will cooperate on Samsung SDS’ Nexledger Universal platform to develop a blockchain-based finance solution for bank and merchants so they can automatically reconcile payments, remittances and invoices with their bank records. The partners also aim to d

TechnologyMarch 4, 2020

Samsung Biologics, STCube to develop novel anti-cancer drug

Samsung Biologics announced Wednesday that it has signed a partnership deal with STCube for the development and manufacturing of STT-003, an anti-cancer immunotherapy candidate. STT-003, developed by STCube’s research center in Maryland, is a novel immune checkpoint inhibitor whose anti-cancer effects are anticipated to be more effective than the conventional PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. The US-based company is planning to submit an investigational new drug submission of the STT-003 antibody i

IndustryMarch 4, 2020

Medytox, Daewoong exchange fire once again

Korean botulinum toxin makers Medytox and Daewoong Pharmaceutical exchanged fire once again on Wednesday, both claiming to have the upper hand in winning the US International Trade Commission suit. Medytox issued a press release in the morning saying that during the hearing of the suit from Feb. 4-7, the USITC’s staff attorney sided with the allegations that Daewoong had indeed used Medytox’s trade secret BTX. If this is reflected in the final decision, Daewoong’s US partne

IndustryMarch 4, 2020

[Monitor] South Korea’s mask exports to China soar in January

South Korea’s mask exports to China soared in January when the Wuhan coronavirus began to spread, reaching the same level as annual total of last year, according to data by the Korea International Trade Association on Wednesday. Exports of miscellaneous textile products -- which mainly include masks -- in January amounted to $72.61 million. This is 8.8 times higher than the $82.96 million in exports in the same month last year and 89.7 percent of the $89.16 million, which was the annual

IndustryMarch 4, 2020

Airlines fly smaller, fewer planes amid coronavirus crisis

Following a sharp drop in the number of passengers and route suspensions due to spread of COVID-19, South Korean air carriers are flying smaller planes while parking their unused aircrafts within the airport facilities, according to industry sources Wednesday.  Full-service carrier Korean Air said that it would reduce the number of seats on its Incheon-Los Angeles route from 407 to 277 by switching from the A380-8 aircraft to the smaller B777-300 until March 14.  Asiana Airlines has

MobilityMarch 4, 2020

Seoul strains to stop virus deaths

　 South Korea continued to mobilize all possible resources to treat coronavirus patients on Wednesday, stung by a series of deaths outside hospitals, as it reported over 500 new cases. As of midnight Tuesday, the total number of reported coronavirus cases in Korea stood at 5,328, up 516 from the previous day, with the southeastern city of Daegu continuing to account for the lion’s share. The death toll rose to 33. In some 66 percent of the cases, mass infections occurred at places l

Social AffairsMarch 4, 2020

Woori, Hana face W36.5b fine, 6-month suspension for DLF fiasco

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Wednesday slapped a combined 36.5 billion won in ($30.8 million) fines on Woori Bank and Hana Bank, along with a six-month ban on attracting investors‘ money into privately pooled funds. The Financial Services Commission’s final decision indicates that the authorities held the banks responsible for their lack of internal control, as they failed to protect retail investors from potential risks implied in the structured products known as

MarketMarch 4, 2020

Korean panel makers’ transformation from LCD to OLED meets virus hurdle

Market figures on Wednesday showed Korean display makers are accelerating their plans to shift their focus from the money-losing liquid crystal display business to the growing organic light-emitting diode industry. But there are worries about those plans being carried out at a slower pace than initially expected due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus. According to data from IHS Markit, LG Display and Samsung Display came in fourth and fifth place in terms of market share for lar

TechnologyMarch 4, 2020

Kim Jong-un’s sister lashes out at S. Korea

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, denounced the South Korean government for its “grave concerns” over the North’s recent rocket launches, saying they were part of routine self-defense exercises. It was the first time she had publicly addressed the South. She called Cheong Wa Dae “mentally challenged” and likened it to a “frightened dog” in a statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday. Cheong Wa Dae

North KoreaMarch 4, 2020